A House in Sicily

Anyone who loves Sicily, Italy or the Mediterranean will enjoy reading Phelps's affectionate account of inheriting a beautiful house and garden in Taormina and abandoning a career in social work to battle with a strange culture, lack of funds and suspicious local authorities. She triumphantly became the hostess of a lodging house that welcomed Roald Dahl, Bertrand Russell, Tennessee Williams and many others, most notably Henry Faulkner, an eccentric American painter who travelled with an alarming menagerie of animals. But it is the Sicilians themselves - the priest, the mafia, the peasant and her beloved friend and servant Concetta - who are the stars of ths evocative and beguiling biography. (Kirkus UK)